Chicago Reader
{{Short description|Alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox newspaper
| name = Chicago Reader
| logo = 250px
| image = Reader cover.jpg
| caption = An issue of Chicago Reader
| type = Alternative weekly
| format = Tabloid
| foundation = {{start date and age|1971|10|1}}
| owners = Reader Institute for Community Journalism
(a non-profit corporation)
| publisher = Solomon Lieberman
| editor = Salem Collo-Julin
| circulation = 60,000
| circulation_date = June 2020
| headquarters = 2930 S. Michigan Ave.
Suite 102
Chicago, Illinois 60616
United States
| ISSN = 1096-6919
| oclc = 1105307753
| website = {{URL|chicagoreader.com}}
}}
The Chicago Reader, or Reader (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. The Reader has been recognized as a pioneer among alternative weeklies for both its creative nonfiction and its commercial scheme. Richard Karpel, then-executive director of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, wrote:
[T]he most significant historical event in the creation of the modern alt-weekly occurred in Chicago in 1971, when the Chicago Reader pioneered the practice of free circulation, a cornerstone of today's alternative papers. The Reader also developed a new kind of journalism, ignoring the news and focusing on everyday life and ordinary people.{{cite book |editor1-first=Richard |editor1-last=Sisson | editor2-first=Christian | editor2-last=Zacher | editor3-first=Andrew | editor3-last=Cayton | title= The American Midwest: An Interpretive Encyclopedia |publisher= Indiana University Press |location=Bloomington, IN | year=2006}}
The Reader was founded by a group of friends from Carleton College,{{cite news |title=The Chicago Reader: A '70s Success Story|first=Tom | last = Valeo |newspaper=Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL) |date=November 4, 1979 |url= http://sites.google.com/site/chireaderhistory/documents/Herald791104.pdf |access-date=January 21, 2010}} and four of them remained its primary owners for 36 years. While annual revenue reached an all-time high of $22.6 million in 2002,{{Cite web|title=The Reader at 50|url=https://chicagoreader.com/news-politics/the-reader-at-50/|access-date=2024-03-03|website=Chicago Reader| date=13 October 2021 |language=en}} double what it had been a decade earlier, profits and readership then went into steep decline, and ownership changed several times between 2007 and 2018. In 2022, the owners transferred the Reader to a new non-profit organization, the Reader Institute for Community Journalism.
On June 22, 2020, the Reader, citing a 90% drop in advertising revenue due to COVID-19 shutdowns, announced that it was pivoting from a weekly to a biweekly print schedule, with a renewed focus on digital content and storytelling and a refreshed special issues calendar.{{Cite web|title=Chicago Reader pivots to biweekly print schedule|url=https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/reader-print-schedule-going-biweekly/Content?oid=80724596|access-date=2020-09-06|website=Chicago Reader| date=22 June 2020 |language=en}} The Reader returned to weekly publishing in June 2024. The Reader is dated every Thursday and distributed free on Wednesday and Thursday via street boxes and cooperating retail outlets. {{As of|2020|June|post=,}} the paper claimed to have nearly 1,200 locations in the Chicago metropolitan area and circulation of 60,000, a fraction of what circulation had been in the mid-2000s. The Reader remains among the largest and most successful alternative newspapers in the country. Weekly readership had once been put at 450,000.{{Cite web|title=Chicago Reader|url=https://duotrope.com/listing/2483/chicago-reader/|access-date=2024-03-03|website=Duotrope |language=en}}
Publication history
= 1971–1995 =
The Chicago Reader was founded by Robert A. Roth, who grew up in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights. His ambition was to start a weekly publication for young Chicagoans like Boston's The Phoenix and Boston After Dark. Those papers were sold on newsstands but were also given away, mostly on campuses, to bolster circulation. Roth believed that 100-percent free circulation would work better, and he persuaded several friends from Carleton College, including Robert E. McCamant, Thomas J. Rehwaldt and Thomas K. Yoder, to join him in his venture. They pooled about $16,000 (about $125,000 in 2024 dollars){{cite news |title=A publisher who is proud of his readers |first=Jon |last=Anderson |newspaper=Chicago Tribune|date=March 14, 1986 |url= http://sites.google.com/site/chireaderhistory/documents/Tribune860314.pdf |access-date=January 21, 2010}} and published the first issue, 16 pages, on October 1, 1971.{{cite news |title=Writing Chicago|first=Jerry | last= Nemanic|newspaper=WBEZ Radio|date=April 29, 1985 |url= http://sites.google.com/site/chireaderhistory/documents/WBEZtranscript.pdf |access-date=January 21, 2010}}
One year later, in its first anniversary issue, the Reader published an article titled "What Kind of Paper is This, Anyway?" in which it answered "Questions we've heard over and over in the past year." This article reported that the paper had lost nearly $20,000 in its first ten months of operation but that the owners were "confident it will work out in the end." It explained the rationale behind free circulation and the paper's unconventional editorial philosophy: "Why doesn't the Reader print news? Tom Wolfe wrote us, 'The Future of the newspaper (as opposed to the past, which is available at every newsstand) lies in your direction, i.e., the sheet willing to deal with "the way we live now.{{"'}} That sums up our thoughts quite well: we find street sellers more interesting than politicians, and musicians more interesting than the Cubs. They are closer to home."{{cite news |title=What Kind of Paper Is This, Anyway? |newspaper=Chicago Reader |date=September 29, 1972|url=http://sites.google.com/site/chireaderhistory/documents/Reader720929.pdf |access-date=January 21, 2010 }}
In its early years the Reader was published out of apartments shared by the owner-founders, Roth, McCamant, Rehwaldt and Yoder. The first apartment was in Hyde Park—the University of Chicago neighborhood on the south side of Chicago—and the second was in Rogers Park on the far north side. Working for ownership in lieu of pay, the owner-founders ultimately owned more than 90% of the company. In 1975 the paper began to earn a profit, incorporated, and rented office space in the downtown area that later came to be known as River North.
In 1979, a reporter for the Daily Herald of Arlington Heights, Illinois, called the Reader "the fastest growing alternative weekly in the U.S." In 1986, an article in the Chicago Tribune estimated the Reader's annual revenues at $6.7 million. In 1996, Crain's Chicago Business projected revenue of $14.6 million.{{cite news |title=Uneasy Reader: A quest for youth |first=Jeff | last=Borden |newspaper=Crain's Chicago Business |date=September 30, 1996}} The National Journal's Convention Daily (published during the 1996 Democratic National Convention in Chicago) reported that the Reader was "an enormous financial success. It's now as thick as many Sunday papers and is published in four sections that total around 180 pages." This report put the circulation at 138,000.{{cite news |title=The Reader: Not for Political Junkies |first=Ben |last=Wildavsky |newspaper=National Journal Convention Daily |date=August 25, 1996 |url= http://sites.google.com/site/chireaderhistory/documents/NationalJ980825.pdf |access-date=January 21, 2010}}
= 1995–2006 =
The Reader began experimenting with electronic distribution in 1995 with an automated telephone service called "SpaceFinder", which offered search and "faxback" delivery of the paper's apartment rental ads, one of its most important franchises. Later in 1995 the paper's "Matches" personal ads were made available on the Web, and in early 1996 the SpaceFinder fax system was adapted for Web searching. Also in 1996 the Reader partnered with Yahoo to bring its entertainment listings online and introduced a Web site and an AOL user area built around its popular syndicated column "The Straight Dope".
The Reader became so profitable in the late 1990s that it added a suburban edition, The Reader's Guide to Arts & Entertainment, but by 2006 it was operating at a loss.{{cite news |title=That Didn't Work Out So Well, Did It? |first=Michael |last=Miner |newspaper=Chicago Reader |date=August 27, 2009 |url= https://www.chicagoreader.com/TheBlog/archives/2009/08/27/that-didnt-work-out-so-well-did-it|access-date=July 3, 2010 }} It faced severe competitive pressure starting near the turn of the century, as some of its key elements became widely available online. Websites offered entertainment listings, schedules, and reviews. Classified ads, a major source of revenue in the 1990s, migrated to Craigslist and other online services that published ads for free and made them easily searchable.
By 2000 much of the paper's content was available online, but the Reader still resisted publishing a Web version of the entire paper. It concentrated on database information like classifieds and listings, leaving the long cover stories and many other articles to be delivered in print only.{{cite web |url=http://adage.com/article?article_id=65009 |title=Chicago Sites Hit Middle Ground | first=Matt |last=Carmichael |date=July 27, 1998 |publisher=Advertising Age |access-date=June 22, 2010}} In 2005, when many similar publications had long been offering all their content online, the Reader began offering its articles in PDF format, showing pages just as they appeared in print — an attempt to provide value to the display advertisers who accounted for much of the paper's revenue. By 2007 the PDFs were gone and all of the paper's content was available online, along with a variety of blogs and Web-only features.
A 2008 article in the Columbia Journalism Review by Edward McClelland, a former Reader staff writer (then known as Ted Kleine), faulted the Reader for having been slow to embrace the Web and suggested that it had trouble appealing to a new generation of young readers. "Alternative weeklies are expected to be eternally youthful", McClelland wrote. "The Reader is finding that a tough act to pull off as it approaches forty." He also suggested the Reader had grown complacent "because it was still raking in ad profits through the early 2000s" and its troubles were aggravated by a 2004 makeover that included "features on fashion" and a "tattooed, twenty-seven-year-old stripper" writing a late-night party column.{{cite news|title=Hope I Die ... |first=Edward |last=McClelland |publisher=Columbia Journalism Review |date=September–October 2008 |url=http://www.tedmcclelland.com/index.php?page=hope-i-die |access-date=July 3, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100221075838/http://www.tedmcclelland.com/index.php?page=hope-i-die |archive-date=February 21, 2010 }} "The feeling was the Reader had to be reinvented ... and change its character."
= 2007–2017 =
After being owned by the same four founders since 1971, ownership of the Reader changed several times between 2007 and 2018.
The precipitous decline in profits from 2004 to 2006 prompted owner-founder Tom Rehwaldt to file a lawsuit against the company. This lawsuit led to the sale of the Reader and its sibling, Washington City Paper, to Creative Loafing in July 2007, publisher of alternative weeklies in Atlanta, Georgia; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Tampa and Sarasota, Florida. Creative Loafing filed for bankruptcy in September 2008.{{cite web|url=http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/freshloaf/2008/09/29/creative-loafing-files-for-bankruptcy/ |title=Creative Loafing files for bankruptcy protection |first=John F. |last=Sugg |date=September 29, 2008 |publisher=Creative Loafing |access-date=December 31, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090826220438/http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/freshloaf/2008/09/29/creative-loafing-files-for-bankruptcy/ |archive-date=August 26, 2009 }} In August 2009, the bankruptcy court awarded the company to Creative Loafing's chief creditor, Atalaya Capital Management,{{cite web|url=http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/freshloaf/2008/09/29/creative-loafing-files-for-bankruptcy/ |title=In the auction for Creative Loafing, the winning bidder is ... |first=Mara |last=Shalhoup |date=August 25, 2009 |publisher=Creative Loafing |access-date=December 31, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090826220438/http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/freshloaf/2008/09/29/creative-loafing-files-for-bankruptcy/ |archive-date=August 26, 2009 }} which had loaned $30 million to pay for most of the purchase price for the Reader and the Washington City Paper.{{cite news | first=James | last=Thorner | title=Tampa's Creative Loafing chain taken over by hedge fund Atalaya | date=2009-08-26 | url=http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/tampas-creative-loafing-chain-taken-over-by-hedge-fund-atalaya/1030750 | work=St. Petersburg Times | access-date=2010-03-08 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090929084423/http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/tampas-creative-loafing-chain-taken-over-by-hedge-fund-atalaya/1030750 | archive-date=2009-09-29 | url-status=dead }}
In late 2007, under a budget cutback imposed by the new owners at Creative Loafing, the Reader laid off several of its most experienced journalists, including John Conroy, Harold Henderson, Tori Marlan and Steve Bogira.{{cite news|title=Through muscle, into bone |first=Michael |last=Miner |newspaper=Chicago Reader |date=December 6, 2007 |url=http://www.chicagoreader.com/TheBlog/archives/2007/12/06/through-muscle-bone |access-date=January 5, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090831171208/http://www.chicagoreader.com/TheBlog/archives/2007/12/06/through-muscle-bone |archive-date=August 31, 2009 }} The paper had de-emphasized the tradition of offbeat feature stories in favor of theme issues and aggressive, opinionated reporting on city government, for example its extensive coverage of tax increment financing (TIFs) by Ben Joravsky, who has been a staff writer since the 1980s. Though the staff was much smaller than it was before the sale, many other key figures remained as of June 2010, including media critic Michael Miner, film critic J.R. Jones, arts reporter Deanna Isaacs, food writer Mike Sula, theater critic Albert Williams, and music writers Peter Margasak and Miles Raymer. In November 2009, James Warren, former managing editor for features at the Chicago Tribune, was named president and publisher.{{cite news |title= Ex-Tribune M.E. Jim Warren named Chicago Reader's publisher|first =Phil |last=Rosenthal |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=October 27, 2009 |url=http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/towerticker/2009/10/tribune-alumnus-jim-warren-named-chicago-readers-publisher-.html |access-date=January 5, 2010}} In March, 2010, Warren resigned.{{cite news | first=Lynne | last=Marek | title=Jim Warren resigns as Reader publisher | date=March 8, 2010 | url =http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=37357 | work =Crain's Chicago Business | access-date = March 8, 2010 }} In June, longtime editor Alison True was fired by acting publisher Alison Draper and Creative Loafing CEO Marty Petty, sparking outrage among the paper's remaining audience.{{cite web |url=https://www.chicagoreader.com/TheBlog/archives/2010/06/25/alison-true-fired-as-reader-editor |title=Alison True Fired as Reader Editor | author=Michael Miner |date=June 25, 2010 |publisher=Chicago Reader |access-date=June 28, 2010 }} In July, Draper was named publisher, managing editor Kiki Yablon was promoted to editor, and Geoff Dougherty was named associate publisher. Dougherty had founded and subsequently closed the online Chi-Town Daily News and its successor, the print-and-online Chicago Current, which he closed to take the Reader job.{{cite web|url=http://www.chicagoreader.com/TheBlog/archives/2010/07/22/geoff-dougherty-comes-over-to-the-reader |title=Geoff Dougherty Comes Over to the Reader; Kiki Yablon Is Named Editor, Alison Draper Publisher |author=Michael Miner |date=July 22, 2010 |publisher=Chicago Reader |access-date=July 28, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100726070040/http://www.chicagoreader.com/TheBlog/archives/2010/07/22/geoff-dougherty-comes-over-to-the-reader |archive-date=July 26, 2010 }}
In 2012, the Chicago Reader was acquired by Wrapports LLC, parent company of the Chicago Sun-Times.Miner, Michael (May 25, 2012). [https://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2012/05/23/wrapports-buys-the-reader "Wrapports Buys the Reader"], Chicago Reader. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
Managing editor Jake Malooley was formally named Editor-in-Chief in July 2015.{{Cite news|url=https://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2015/07/16/jake-malooley-named-editor-of-the-reader|title=Jake Malooley named editor of the Reader|last=Miner|first=Michael|work=Chicago Reader|access-date=2018-02-13|language=en}} In February 2018 Malooley was fired by phone at O'Hare Airport as he returned from his honeymoon{{cite web|url=https://www.robertfeder.com/2018/02/09/honeymoons-chicago-reader-editor-jake-malooley/|title=Honeymoon's over for Chicago Reader editor Jake Malooley |website=Robertfeder.com|access-date=2018-02-13}} by newly appointed Executive Editor Mark Konkol.{{Cite news|url=https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/pulitzer-winner-mark-konkol-to-lead-chicago-reader/|title=Pulitzer winner Mark Konkol to lead Chicago Reader|work=Chicago Sun-Times|access-date=2018-02-13|language=en}} Konkol was fired by Sun-Times Media only 19 days after his appointment, following the publication of a controversial editorial cartoon that was deemed to be race baiting.{{cite web|title=Chicago Reader Editor Konkol out after controversy over cartoon|url=http://abc7chicago.com/politics/chicago-reader-editor-konkol-out-after-controversy-over-cartoon/3102203/|website=ABC7 Chicago|access-date=18 February 2018|date=18 February 2018}}
On July 13, 2017, a consortium consisting of private investors & the Chicago Federation of Labor, led by businessman & former Chicago alderman Edwin Eisendrath, through Eisendrath's company, ST Acquisition Holdings, acquired the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Reader from Wrapports, beating out Chicago-based publishing company Tronc for ownership.{{cite news|last1=Ember|first1=Sydney|title=The Chicago Sun-Times Is Wrenched Away From a Rival Publisher|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/13/business/media/the-chicago-sun-times-edwin-eisendrath-chicago-federation-of-labor.html|work=The New York Times|date=13 July 2017}}{{cite news|last1=Armentrout|first1=Mitchell|title=Union group led by Eisendrath outduels Trib owner to acquire Sun-Times|url=http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/union-group-led-by-eisendrath-set-to-acquire-sun-times-sources/|access-date=12 July 2017|work=Chicago Sun-Times|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170712223143/http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/union-group-led-by-eisendrath-set-to-acquire-sun-times-sources/|archive-date=12 July 2017|url-status=dead}}
= 2018–2025=
Effective October 1, 2018, Sun-Times Media sold the Reader to a private investment group, which formed an L3C to make the purchase. The major investors were Chicagoans Elzie Higginbottom and Leonard Goodman. Tracy Baim was named publisher and Anne Elizabeth Moore editor.{{Cite web|title=Reader announces Anne Elizabeth Moore as editor in chief, Karen Hawkins as digital managing editor|url=https://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2018/10/01/reader-announces-anne-elizabeth-moore-as-editor-in-chief-karen-hawkins-as-digital-managing-editor|website=Chicago Reader|access-date=10 December 2018|date=1 October 2018}} Moore's tenure as editor was short-lived; she abruptly departed in March 2019.{{cite web|url=https://www.robertfeder.com/2019/03/18/robservations-kris-kridel-stepping-back-wbbm-newsradio/|title=Robservations: Kris Kridel stepping back at WBBM Newsradio|website=Robertfeder.com|access-date=23 March 2019}} In June 2019 Karen Hawkins and Sujay Kumar were announced as new editors in chief, previously managing editors who had been serving as interim editors in chief following Moore's departure.{{Cite web|title=Chicago Reader names editors in chief, theater and dance editor |url=https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/announcing-editors-in-chief-theater-dance-editor/Content?oid=71113630|website=Chicago Reader|access-date=9 August 2019|date=20 June 2019}} In November 2020, the Reader announced co-editor Hawkins would also serve as co-publisher with Baim,{{Cite web|title=Chicago Reader announces co-publisher team as the company moves to nonprofit|url=https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/reader-copublishers-karen-hawkens-tracy-baim-announcement/Content?oid=84201221|website=chicagoreader.com| date=12 November 2020 |access-date=1 April 2021}} while Baim was also made president.
On June 22, 2020, the Reader, citing a 90% drop in advertising revenue due to COVID-19 shutdowns, announced that it was pivoting from a weekly to a biweekly print schedule, with a renewed focus on digital content and storytelling and a refreshed special issues calendar.{{Cite web| title=Chicago Reader pivots to biweekly print schedule|url=https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/reader-print-schedule-going-biweekly/Content?oid=80724596|access-date=2020-09-06|website=Chicago Reader| date=22 June 2020 |language=en}}
On May 16, 2022, ownership of the Reader was transferred to the new non-profit organization Reader Institute for Community Journalism. The transfer had been delayed by a debilitating public dispute between publisher Tracy Baim and then-editor in chief Karen Hawkins on one side, and co-owner Leonard Goodman on the other, in 2021 and 2022.
Goodman, who had submitted a semi-regular column for the Reader since he and Higginbottom acquired the newspaper, wrote one (edited by Hawkins) in November 2021 about his hesitancy to vaccinate his young daughter against COVID-19.{{cite web | url=https://chicagoreader.com/columns-opinion/opinion/vaxxing-our-kids/ | title=Vaxxing our kids | date=24 November 2021 }}
After the column appeared in print, objections from the editorial staff and a public outcry prompted Baim and Hawkins to first defend the column (Hawkins tweeted in defense of it and privately assured Goodman the column was "bulletproof") before changing their minds and commissioning a post-publication fact-check that found multiple inaccuracies and errors. Baim proposed publishing the fact-check online with the column, but Goodman and allied board members accused Baim of censorship and demanded her resignation before allowing the transfer to a nonprofit; she refused. Baim, Goodman, and the board remained in a stalemate for months, unable to reach an agreement.
In April 2022 the newspaper's editorial union, saying the dispute threatened the future of the newspaper, mounted a public pressure campaign that culminated in protests outside of Goodman's mansion,{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/04/22/chicago-reader-free-speech-goodman/ |url-access=subscription |title=A fight over a vaccine column could kill one of the oldest alt-weeklies |date=2022-04-22 |first1=Kim |last1=Bellware |first2=Elahe |last2=Izadi |newspaper=The Washington Post |place=Washington, D.C. |issn=0190-8286 |oclc=1330888409}} and after two weeks, he agreed to give up ownership and allow the transfer to a nonprofit. In return, Baim agreed to keep the column at the center of the dispute online.
In June 2022, Hawkins left the Reader. In August, Baim announced that she would resign by the end of the year.{{cite news| publisher=Chicago Tribune| title=Chicago Reader publisher to step down after hard-fought battle to convert alternative newspaper to nonprofit| date=August 5, 2022| author=Channick, Robert| url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-chicago-reader-publisher-stepping-down-20220805-yxadghf2b5fxdojxyfimhcq4ma-story.html| access-date=2022-08-08}} Solomon Lieberman was hired as new CEO and publisher in February 2023.{{cite web | url=https://chicagoreader.com/reader/press-releases/new-publisher-and-ceo-hired-for-chicago-reader/ | title=New publisher and CEO hired for Chicago Reader| date=1 February 2023 }} Salem Collo-Julin was named editor in chief in March 2023.{{cite web|url=https://chicagoreader.com/reader/press-releases/meet-the-new-editor-in-chief-of-the-chicago-reader-salem-collo-julin/|title=Meet the new editor in chief of the Chicago Reader: Salem Collo-Julin|date=15 March 2023}}
In May 2024, the newspaper announced it would return to a weekly print schedule.{{Cite web |last=Lieberman |first=Solomon |date=May 4, 2024 |title=Publisher's note: why the Reader is returning to weekly publishing |url=https://chicagoreader.com/columns-opinion/staff-notes/weekly-newspaper/ |access-date=May 22, 2024 |website=Chicago Reader}}
In January 2025, Lieberman resigned, and the RICJ announced a round of layoffs due to "a combination of financial losses, operational challenges, and external pressures [that] has brought the Reader to an imminent risk of closure."{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2025-01-15 |title=Chicago Reader Announces Restructuring and Layoffs |url=https://chicagoreader.com/reader/press-releases/chicago-reader-announces-layoffs/ |access-date=2025-01-18 |website=Chicago Reader |language=en-US}}
Content
The Reader was designed to serve young readers, mostly singles in their 20s, who in the early 1970s lived in distinct neighborhoods along Chicago's lakefront, such as Hyde Park, Lincoln Park, and Lake View. Later this demographic group moved west, to neighborhoods like Wicker Park, Bucktown, and Logan Square, and the Reader moved with them. The paper's appeal was based on a variety of elements. Most obvious early on was a focus on pop culture for a generation who were not served by the entertainment coverage of daily newspapers. Like many alternative weeklies, the Reader relied heavily on coverage and extensive listings of arts and cultural events, especially live music, film, and theater.
As the paper prospered and its budget expanded, investigative and political reporting became another important part of the mix. Reader articles by freelance writer David Moberg are credited with helping to elect Chicago's first black mayor, the late Harold Washington.{{cite news|title=Hope I Die ... Will the Chicago Reader Finally Grow Up? Should it? |first=Edward |last=McClelland |newspaper=Columbia Journalism Review |date=September–October 2008 |url=https://www.cjr.org/essay/hope_i_die.php |access-date=December 31, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100221075838/http://www.tedmcclelland.com/index.php?page=hope-i-die |archive-date=February 21, 2010}} Staff writer John Conroy wrote extensively, over a period of more than 17 years, on police torture in Chicago; his reporting{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/police-torture-in-chicago-jon-burge-scandal-articles-by-john-conroy/Content?oid=1210030|title=Police Torture in Chicago|first=John|last=Conroy|website=Chicago Reader|date=8 October 2009 }} was instrumental in the ouster and prosecution of Commander Jon Burge, the leader of a police torture ring, and in the release of several wrongly convicted prisoners from death row.{{cite news |title=Reporter kept the focus on police torture|first=Mark|last= Brown |newspaper=Chicago Sun-Times |date=October 22, 2008}}
The Reader was perhaps best known for its deep, immersive style of literary journalism, publishing long, detailed cover stories, often on subjects that had little to do with the news of the day. An oft-cited example is a 19,000-word article on beekeeping by staff editor Michael Lenehan.{{Cite web|url=https://sites.google.com/site/mikelenehan/theessenceofbeeing|title=theessenceofbeeing - mikelenehan|website=sites.google.com}} This article won the AAAS Westinghouse Science Journalism Award, awarded by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in 1978.{{cite web |url= http://archives.aaas.org/people.php?p_id=592|title= About AAAS: History & Archives|publisher= American Association for the Advancement of Science|access-date=January 31, 2010}} Steve Bogira's 1988 article "A Fire in the Family" used an apartment-building fire as the starting point for a 15,000-word chronicle of life among the underclass, following three generations of a west-side family and touching on urban issues such as addiction, discrimination, crime, and teen pregnancy.{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/a-fire-in-the-family/Content?oid=872087|title=A Fire in the Family|first=Steve|last=Bogira|website=Chicago Reader|date=21 April 1988 }} It won the Peter Lisagor Award for Exemplary Journalism, awarded by the Chicago Headline Club. Ben Joravsky's "A Simple Game" followed a public high school basketball team for a full year.{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/a-simple-game/Content?oid=880982|title=A Simple Game|first=Ben|last=Joravsky|website=Chicago Reader|date=3 December 1992 }} Published in two parts, a total of 40,000 words, it was reprinted in the anthology Best American Sportswriting 1993. Contributor Lee Sandlin's two-part 1997 essay, “Losing the War,”{{Cite web|title=Remembering Lee Sandlin, a Genius of Midwestern Letters|url=https://www.chicagomag.com/city-life/december-2014/rip-lee-sandlin-a-genius-of-midwestern-letters/|access-date=2024-03-04|website=Chicago Magazine| date=17 December 2014 |language=en}} was later adapted for broadcast by the public radio show This American Life{{Cite web|title=War Stories|url=https://www.thisamericanlife.org/195/war-stories|access-date=2024-03-04|website=This American Life| date=28 September 2001 |language=en}} and it was anthologized in a 2007 collection, The New Kings of Nonfiction.{{Cite web|title=The New Kings of Nonfiction|url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/299648/the-new-kings-of-nonfiction-by-ira-glass/|access-date=2024-03-04|website=Penguin Random House| date=2 October 2007 |language=en}} The Reader has won 30 Alternative Newsweekly Awards since 1996.{{cite web |title=Association of Alternative Newsweeklies |url=http://aan.org/alternative/Aan/AwardsBrowse?mode=Publication |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060616025132/http://aan.org/alternative/Aan/AwardsBrowse?mode=Publication |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 16, 2006 |publisher=Association of Alternative Newsweeklies |access-date=July 3, 2010}}
Another element of the Reader{{'}}s appeal was its free classified ads to individuals. Ads were seen as another source of information alongside the journalism and listings.
Design and format
The original look of the Chicago Reader in 1971 was devised by owner-founder Bob McCamant. In 2004, a redesign by the Barcelona, Spain, firm of Jardi + Utensil introduced a new logo and extensive use of color, including a magazine-style cover.{{cite news |title=Reader updates design, sticks with what works |first=Steve |last=Johnson |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=September 24, 2004}} In 2007, under the ownership of Creative Loafing, the paper was converted to a single-section tabloid.{{cite web|url=http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/chicago.reader.bought.2.1143610.html |title=Fund Buys Chicago Reader, Will Keep It Running |date=August 25, 2009 |publisher=CBS |access-date=June 22, 2010 }}{{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} In 2010, Publisher Alison Draper hired Chicago-based redesign consultant Ron Reason to help revamp the publication. Among changes introduced were a revitalized and rebranded music section titled B Side,{{Cite web|url=http://ronreason.com/designwithreason/2011/04/25/chicago-reader-redesign-a-music-section-to-flip-for/|title=Chicago Reader redesign: A music section to flip for | Design With Reason|date=25 April 2011 }} an improvement in the paper's advertising design, quality glossy paper stock for covers and key inside spreads, and editorial destinations shepherded primarily by new editor Mara Shalhoup. A post-redesign checkup several months later revealed a robust page count, innovations in social media and reader engagement, and strong commitment from advertisers.{{Cite web|url=http://ronreason.com/designwithreason/2011/10/13/6-things-to-learn-from-the-chicago-reader-print-edition/|title=6 Things to Learn from the Chicago Reader (print edition) | Design With Reason|date=13 October 2011 }}
Related ventures
"The Straight Dope", by the pseudonymous{{cite news |title='Straight Dope': Insight from a smart aleck |author=Larry Kart |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=November 15, 1984}} Cecil Adams, was the Chicago Reader
The Los Angeles Reader began publishing in 1978 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Chicago Reader, Inc. It was the first newspaper to publish Matt Groening's comic strip Life in Hell and David Lynch's strip The Angriest Dog in the World. Groening worked at the Los Angeles Reader for six years, first in circulation{{Cite web|title=Matt Groening|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Matt-Groening/|access-date=2024-03-04|website=Encyclopaedia Britannica| date=11 February 2024 |language=en}} and then as a critic and assistant editor.{{Cite web|title=Matt Groening|url=https://www.salon.com/2001/01/30/groening/|access-date=2024-03-04|website=Salon| date=30 January 2001 |language=en}} In 1989, the paper was sold to a company headed by its founding editor, James Vowell.{{cite news |title=Publisher-Led Group Buys Reader, Plans New Look |first=Linda|last= Williams |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=February 16, 1989}} In 1996, it was sold to and closed by New Times Media, which later became Village Voice Media.{{cite news |title=Phoenix firm buys Los Angeles Reader |first=Nancy Rivera |last=Brooks |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=August 3, 1996}}
The San Diego Reader was founded in 1972 by Jim Holman, one of the original group who established the Chicago Reader.{{Citation needed|date=March 2023|reason=that he was a founder needs an inline citation}} Although Holman briefly owned shares in the Chicago paper, none of the Chicago owners had an interest in the San Diego paper. Holman used the Reader format and nameplate with the blessings of his friends in Chicago.
Various other Readers have been published, but the San Diego and Los Angeles papers are the only ones affiliated with the Chicago Reader. In the late 1970s, Chicago Reader, Inc. (CRI) sued the Twin Cities Reader for trademark infringement, arguing that the Chicago Reader had given special meaning to the name "Reader". The federal appeals court ultimately ruled that the term was "merely descriptive" and thus could not be protected as a trademark.{{cite news |title=Court rules the name can be the same |first=William M.|last= Borchard |newspaper=Advertising Age |date=November 12, 1984 }}
The East Bay Express, which serves the San Francisco Bay area, was co-founded in 1978 by Nancy Banks, a co-founder of the Chicago Reader, and editor John Raeside. Chicago Reader owners invested in the paper and eventually CRI held a major stake. The paper was sold in 2001 to New Times Media, which became Village Voice Media and in 2007 sold it to editor Stephen Buel and a group of investors.{{cite news |title=Express editor buys weekly paper from chain |first=Joe |last=Garofoli |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle | date=May 18, 2007 | url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/18/BAGNDPTF4I1.DTL | access-date=May 5, 2010}}
Washington City Paper was founded in 1981 by Russ Smith and Alan Hirsch, who had founded Baltimore City Paper in 1977. Originally named 1981, the name was changed the following year.{{cite news |title=City Talk: The key players of Washington's influential and controversial weekly paper look back on its legacy |first=Stephen |last=Lowman|newspaper=Washington Post |date=August 9, 2009 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/31/AR2009073102016.html |access-date=June 22, 2010}} Owners of the Chicago Reader invested in the Washington paper in 1982 and eventually controlled 100 percent of the stock. In 2007, they sold their interest in both papers to Creative Loafing, Inc.
The Reader's Guide to Arts & Entertainment was published as a suburban extension of the Chicago Reader in 1996. Before then, the Reader had avoided distribution in all but the closest suburbs of Chicago. The Reader's Guide was a scaled-down version of the Reader, printed as a one-section tabloid meant to satisfy suburban demand for Reader content and advertising. In 2007, it was closed and distribution of the complete Chicago Reader was expanded to the suburbs.{{cite web |url=http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=25963 |title=Chicago Reader ends suburban edition | first=Robert |last=Loerzel |date=August 8, 2007 |publisher=Crain's Chicago Business |access-date=May 5, 2010 }}
The Ruxton Group, originally called the Reader Group, was formed by CRI in 1984 as a national advertising representative for the Reader, Washington City Paper, and other large-market alternative weeklies. In 1995 the company was sold to New Times Media, which became Village Voice Media and renamed Ruxton as the Voice Media Group.{{cite web|url=http://www.voicemediagroup.com/History |title=Who we are: history |publisher=Voice Media Group |access-date=February 12, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100124133713/http://www.voicemediagroup.com/History |archive-date=January 24, 2010 }}
Index Newspapers is the company that publishes The Stranger in Seattle, Washington, and the Portland Mercury in Portland, Oregon. In 2002, CRI invested in Index and took a minority interest.{{cite web | url=http://aan.org/alternative/Aan/ViewArticle?oid=8295 | archive-url=https://archive.today/20120701101741/http://aan.org/alternative/Aan/ViewArticle?oid=8295 | url-status=dead | archive-date=July 1, 2012 | title=Chicago Reader Invests in The Stranger | date=May 2, 2002 | publisher=Association of Alternative Newsweeklies | access-date=May 5, 2010 }}
Quarterfold, Inc. is a company formed by most of the former owners of Chicago Reader, Inc. to succeed that company and hold assets that were not included in the sale to Creative Loafing. Quarterfold's chief asset is its ownership interest in Index Newspapers.{{cite news |title=The Suit Behind the Sale |first=Michael |last=Miner |newspaper=Chicago Reader |date=August 23, 2007 |url=http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/the-suit-behind-the-sale/Content?oid=925739 |access-date=January 3, 2010}}
Amsterdam Weekly was a free, English-language weekly published in the Netherlands from May 2004 through December 2008. {{As of|May 2010}}, it exists in limited form online.{{Cite web|url=http://www.amsterdamweekly.nl/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070830215958/http://www.amsterdamweekly.nl/|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 30, 2007|title=Amsterdam Weekly - Inside: Music, Film, Arts, Theatre, Clubs - Home|date=August 30, 2007}} The paper was started by Todd Savage, who had been a writer and typesetter for the Chicago Reader in the late 1990s. The Reader was a major investor.{{cite web |url=http://aan.org/alternative/amsterdam_weekly_debuts_with_help_from_chicago_reader/Aan/ViewArticle?oid=133680 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120709161740/http://aan.org/alternative/amsterdam_weekly_debuts_with_help_from_chicago_reader/Aan/ViewArticle?oid=133680 |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 9, 2012 |title=Amsterdam Weekly Debuts with Help from Chicago Reader |date=March 11, 2004 |publisher=Association of Alternative Newsweeklies |access-date=June 22, 2010 }} In 2008, the paper was sold to Yuval Sigler, publisher of Time Out Tel Aviv, who with assets and staff including Savage launched Time Out Amsterdam in October 2008.{{cite web |url=http://www.ejc.net/magazine/article/im_a_stranger_here_myself/ |title=I'm a stranger here myself |first=Liz |last=Farsaci |date=June 24, 2008 |publisher=European Journalism Centre Magazine |access-date=June 22, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511182745/http://www.ejc.net/magazine/article/im_a_stranger_here_myself/ |archive-date=May 11, 2011 |url-status=dead }}
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- [http://www.chicagoreader.com/ Chicago Reader website]
- [https://sites.google.com/site/chireaderhistory/ Chicago Reader History], a small collection of articles and documents
- [https://archives.newberry.org/repositories/2/resources/359 Chicago Reader Records] at the Newberry Library
- [https://archives.newberry.org/repositories/2/resources/358 Chicago Reader Photographs: Performance collection] at the Newberry Library
- [https://archives.newberry.org/repositories/2/resources/357 Chicago Reader Photographs: News Collection] at the Newberry Library
- [https://archives.newberry.org/repositories/2/resources/291 Chicago Reader Artwork Collection] at the Newberry Library
Category:Alternative weekly newspapers published in the United States
Category:Newspapers published in Chicago